Monday, 15 August 2011

How was the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) bewitched?

How was the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) bewitched, when Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Allaah will protect you from mankind” [al-Maa’idah 5:67]?

How could he have been bewitched when he was receiving Revelation from His Lord and conveying that to the Muslims? How could he convey it if he was bewitched, and the kaafirs and mushrikeen said:

“You follow none but a man bewitched”[al-Furqaan 25:8 – interpretation of the meaning]

We hope that you could explain this and clear up these doubts.

Praise be to Allaah.

It was proven in a saheeh hadeeth that this witchcraft took place in Madeenah, when the Revelation and the Message had become well-established and clear, and after the evidence of Prophethood and the truthfulness of the Message had been confirmed, and after Allaah had supported His Prophet against the mushrikeen and humiliated them. Then a Jewish person called Labeed ibn al-A’sam came to him and did some kind of witchcraft against him, using a comb and the hairs stuck to it and the skin of pollen of a male date palm. He – the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) – started to imagine that he had done something with his wife when he had not done it, but his reason, feelings and ability to distinguish matters remained with him with regard to the things he was telling the people, praise be to Allaah. So he continued to speak to the people of the truth which Allaah had revealed to Him. But he felt that something was affecting him with regard to his wives, as ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) said: “He used to imagine that he had done something in the house with his wife when he had not done it. So Revelation came to him from his Lord via Jibreel (peace be upon him), telling him what had happened. So he sent someone to take that thing [the material used for witchcraft purposes] out of the well of one of the Ansaar, and he destroyed it.” Then the effects of that left him, praise be to Allaah, and Allaah revealed to him the two soorahs of seeking refuge with Allaah (al-Mi’wadhatayn, the last two soorahs of the Qur’aan). He recited them and all harm left him. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Those who seek refuge can never seek refuge with anything like them.” Nothing resulted from this witchcraft that could have harmed the people or undermined the Message or Revelation. Allaah protected him from the people with regard to the matter of receiving and conveying the Message.

But with regard to the kinds of harm that befell the Messengers, he (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was not protected from them, rather some such things befell him too. He was wounded on the day of Uhud, and his helmet was smashed on his head and his cheek was cut, some of the rings from his chain mail pierced his cheeks, he fell in one of the holes that were there, and they subjected him to intense persecution in Makkah. He suffered some of the things that the Messengers before him had suffered, and that were decreed for him, by means of which Allaah raised him in status and multiplied his hasanaat (reward for good deeds). But Allaah protected him from them, so that they were not able to kill him or to prevent him from conveying the Message; they were not able to prevent him from fulfilling his obligation to convey the Message, so he conveyed it and fulfilled the mission with which he had been entrusted. May the peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him, and praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the Worlds.